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As I watch my grandsons play baseball, I hear parents and coaches yell, "Baseball ready!" to the players. This might be an old expression, but I don't remember hearing it before. Some of the boys really respond and jump into their
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DISD has been rating teachers with something called a CEI (Classroom Effectiveness Index) for a decade and are thinking about using this index to determine how to distribute $22 million worth of employee bonus money. How original. There are a lot of people
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If a student is determined to cheat, it's pretty hard to nip it in the bud. Sure, teachers are able to prevent some cheating. Walking around and closely observing students helps. I've always wondered if the students that go all out to cheat learn something
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I once had a student turn in a beautifully written composition that I knew was not his work. When I talked to his mother, she told me, "Of course, I did it. You know he can't write." Parents sometimes feel that they have to help out with projects because
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Some teachers (and probably parents) have had enough of the " whatev-ah" response. Even preschoolers are saying it. The word sort of stops you in your tracks and makes you think that whatever you are saying must not be important. It's a catch-all response
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When I was a kid, we got excited about going to the symphony. Most of us didn't care for the music itself. It was all about the bus trip. Our music teacher even made a large poster of a bus and recorded each student's name on the bus after receiving that
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Not everything happens during a convenient time. Family vacations or bonding time might just occur during the school year, and we're not talking about spring break. Sometimes parents can't even get vacation time during the summer. Leave it to a district
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I have heard the word toppers used to describe people who always have a better story. There could also be interrupter toppers (ITs) who can't wait for a story to end before beginning theirs. Then, there are those who never really listen. They sort of
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Texas has had its share of headaches when it comes to testing. Does anyone else remember the TECAT? That was a test that every Texas teacher had to take to keep on trucking. It was an absurd, expensive ordeal where teachers were treated like cattle because
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It all started with a survey. A psychology professor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, surveyed her students, and the sisters of Delta Zeta were seen as "socially awkward". In an obvious effort to portray a more beautiful image, the Delta
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I enjoy reading Jessica Shyu's blog " On the Reservation " online in Teacher Magazine. She is in her second year of teaching in the Teach for America program. She teaches special education to elementary and middle school students on a reservation in New
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Being neutral on important issues is a hard line to walk in the classroom. Students question teachers constantly on how they plan to vote or how they feel about current topics in the news. Legislators in Arizona want to force teachers to keep their opinions
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My mother always used to say, "Open the jar, and the worms will come out." This seemed to apply to almost any controversial situation. Bloggers are having a field day with a "jar opening" decision about school vouchers. On cnn.com we learn that Utah lawmakers
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See the video posted on dallasnews.com showing a group headed to Austin to participate in a rally for vouchers. Several private school parents said they need public funding so they don't have to skimp on other things to cover education costs. Public school
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Mentoring programs are not new. Veteran teachers are often paired with new teachers in order to help launch successful teaching careers. This was not the case when I first started teaching. I started my first year in a third grade classroom in a tough
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